I still remember the old days of HotBot, Yahoo, Alta Vista and so many other search engines. If I wanted to search for something particular, I'd use a specific search engine, then this 'Google' came out and I tried it out - oh how it has grown since, not just in its power, but the value behind it.

Google threw Microsoft to the side today, overtaking them to become the second most valuable tech company in the world. The Mountain View-based company's stock value increased 0.7% to $759.98 giving the company a market capitilization of around $249.2 billion. The now number three company, Microsoft, saw their shares drop 0.3% to $29.67 a piece, giving them a valuation of around $248.7 billion.

We know that the PC hardware space is struggling, and Google don't really have much product in that market. Google have a huge chunk of the mobile OS market with Android, owning roughly 64% of the smartphone OS market. Apple is still way out ahead in terms of value, with their latest valuation pegging the iPhone maker at $632.9 billion.